Life as a ‘Magnificent Volunteer Person’ : Community service: Sally Garcia’s four-year donation of time, energy and goodwill has been recognized in her civilian award from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

For people like Sally Garcia it all comes so naturally--this ability to provide comfort, this calling to help others.

It is what put her in the center of last spring’s riots as a sheriff’s volunteer, and what drew her to the side of a grieving mother whose son had been shot and killed in a gang-related incident several months ago.

“That was very difficult,” said Garcia, who was called in as a translator to tell the woman her son had been shot, “because I could not do much except try and comfort her. There is really nothing you can do for a mother who feels pain and has lost her child.”

Now, after four years as a volunteer at the Carson station of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, many say the 52-year-old Garcia’s talents have finally been recognized with her selection as the 1992 Civilian Volunteer of the Year.

Garcia, a divorced Harbor City resident with two daughters, was selected over 22 others as the department’s volunteer of the year.

Garcia devotes dozens of hours each month at the Carson station, where she fills a variety of jobs, including translator, role-player for patrol training classes and coordinator for a program serving victims of domestic violence. She is one of 70 volunteers at the station.

Joyce Cagaanan, an administrative specialist in crime prevention, said, “It’s impossible not to get carried away when talking about Sally because she’s just so super. She can do almost anything.”

During the April riots last year, Garcia had to call the parents of juveniles who were detained for looting and damaging property in the area, and she became the target of many angry parents.

“The mothers were yelling at me, saying, ‘You made a mistake, lady, when you arrested my child’ and literally cussing at me,” Garcia said. “They were using profane words at me in Spanish that I hadn’t heard in years, but I recognized them.”

“I call her my MVP,” said Deputy Blaine Bolin. “Magnificent Volunteer Person. She is involved in almost every volunteer program there is. She’s virtually irreplaceable.”

Law enforcement is a recurring theme in the life of Garcia, who spends much of her time away from the station as a full-time security guard for a local retail store. Garcia said her father, a Pentecostal minister from Mexico, instilled in her and her 12 brothers and sisters a strong work ethic and respect for authority.

Garcia’s brother is an officer in the Los Angeles Police Department, and one of her daughters and a son-in-law are officers in the LAPD as well.

Colleagues credit Garcia with having an ability to make people in difficult and often embarrassing situations feel at ease. Over Christmas, for example, the station sponsored a program that provided food to needy families.

“Sometimes,” according to Cagaanan, “we get too many people. Sally will go up to the people and tell them in her way that we don’t have any more without hurting their feelings. And then she’ll go above and beyond to try and get help for them.”

Sometimes, Garcia would buy food for needy families with money out of her own pocket. “What is an extra 20 dollars?” she said. “Food is a necessity for their Christmas meal. I’m going to be their food Santa Claus.”

Garcia said the desire to help her community, and especially children, is what motivates her to volunteer so many hours to the sheriff’s station.

One of her most memorable incidents occurred last year when a man, brought in for drunk driving in the early morning, was found to have “a little person in the car who was not in a car seat,” said Garcia.

“They called me at home to come in, although I had just left the station 20 minutes ago. I have toys in my house for children and I brought them for the child.”

Garcia said her own childhood, a rich family life but with few luxuries, made her sensitive to the needs of others.

“My parents raised us to be good to others, and I knew what it was to need,” she said. “My reward is when I see these small faces smiling at me and saying, ‘ Gracias .’ I say, ‘ No hay de que .’ . . . That means ‘There’s nothing to thank me for.’ My thank you is a smile.”